m390

Lionsteel BestMan Slip Joint Review

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but 2020 was a year of changes for me. One of those was career related, turning my collar from blue to a gray-ish shade of white. With this transition comes a change in scene. Where before I’d been free to carry tools like the Spyderco PM2, I’ve reached a point where I’m seeking out more discreet options for daily use. Enter the LionSteel BestMan, my first traveling companion on this strange new road.

Buy the LionSteel BestMan at BladeHQ or GP Knives

Buy on Amazon

Lionsteel’s thesis here is simple: Produce a traditional style blade with modern, high-end materials. A capital idea, for sure. But, speaking of capitals, how exactly am I supposed to spell this? Bestman? BestMan? bestMAN? I’ve seen it each way. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be using the middle option. Read on to see how it faired after nearly two months of testing.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

Hailing from Maniago, Italy, the BestMan is a thoughtfully crafted knife. The handle and bolsters are spun from lightweight titanium, measuring 3.75-inches. Nestled between the scales is a 2.875-inch blade, wearing a satin finish over its clean, flat grind. I opted for the clip point model, but Lionsteel also offers a drop point version under the moniker of BestMan 2.

Whichever you choose, you’ll be treated to 0.10-inch thick blade wrought in Bohler M390. Its overall length of 6.625-inches place it squarely in the medium-sized range, with a narrow profile of just under a half inch. At 2.32 ounces, its weight is on par with beefier folders such as the Spyderco Native 5.

Now, I’ve heard complaints about the fit and finish, specifically with the handle scales. I can’t speak for others, but my model from DLT Trading arrived with perfectly finished slabs of Santos wood, and a flawlessly centered blade. It’s still mostly centered, despite my efforts to the contrary. But we’ll get to that fiasco in a bit.

So, it’s beautiful. But how does it cut? Well, that depends on who you ask. Some reviewers have lauded the BestMan as an excellent slicer, while others believe it’s too thick behind the edge. After a few weeks of cardboard, paper, and packages, I’m definitely in the later camp. Don’t get me wrong – The blade is functional. But both my finger-calipers and in-hand experience tell me that its bevel isn’t quite steep enough.

This isn’t the end of the world, however. A high-end sharpening system or set of stones would allow you to refinish the M390. It was a little difficult to do with my Spyderco Sharpmaker, but I was able to thin it out a bit.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

I can sum up the BestMan’s ergos in two words: Deceptively comfortable. At first glance, the handle appears to be an elongated rectangle with some screws and matching scales. In practice, Lionsteel has created a knife that’s surprisingly easy to hold and use.

Take another look at the overall shape. See that gentle arc toward the spring side? It helps nestle the knife against your palm, while providing a nice concavity for your fingers. The blade spine is beautifully chamfered, creating a natural landing spot for the thumb. Even the Santos wood scales are well thought out, providing a nice bit of warmth and personality.

As far as pocket clips go, well, it doesn’t have one. This is a classically patterned tool, after all. Other than the thickness of its edge, this was the biggest sticking point for me. The BestMan would occasionally slide to the very bottom of my pocket, laying flat against the side of my leg. This isn’t ideal, which is why leather slips are so popular among traditional enthusiasts. Still, I consider this a relatively minor complaint.

Let’s move onto something a little more serious. Now, I know many gear reviewers are advocates of disassembling your new knife. Normally, I’m in the same boat. But not this time. Do not, and I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT take your BestMan apart. I made that mistake of completely taking down this knife, and it took me more than two hours to get back together. The process involved multiple screwdrivers, a pair of pliers, and a potato masher. I do not, under any circumstances, recommend that you follow in my footsteps.

Why so difficult? It has to do with the configuration of the back spring and the front and rear pivots. While this model of BestMan has only one blade, the internals are set up for two. This means that the spring is always applying pressure somewhere, making it very hard to snap pieces back into place. It’s a wonder I didn’t cut myself getting everything back together. So, skip it. If the action feels a little stiff, loosen the pivot or shoot some oil along the brass washers. You’ll be much happier, and less likely to ruin your handsome new knife.

Deployment and Lockup

As much as I complained about the disassembly process, LionSteel has done a good job with the backspring. Traditionals aren’t really meant to be taken apart, after all. When left to do its thing, the BestMan’s backspring produces satisfying pulls and zero blade play.

The process starts with the nail notch. It’s well positioned, subtly chamfered, and adequately sized. Personally, I prefer to pinch the blade between my thumb and index finger and, with the backspring facing up, draw the blade from the underside.

While there’s technically no “lock up” on a slipjoint, the knife feels secure under light to medium use. I could place my thumb on the spine without fear of the blade closing on my fingers. The half-stop is equally commendable, halting the edge far above the knuckles. This is by no means a knife I’d recommend closing one handed, but it can be done.

Overall, I find the walk and talk on BestMan to be satisfying. It doesn’t have the same fidget factor you’d find on a Benchmade 940 or Spyderco PM2, but the solidity of its pinch opening and snap of its closure provide a different kind of tactile thrill.

LionSteel BestMan Review – Final Thoughts

I like so many things about this knife. Its construction impressed me early on, but it took a while for me to warm up to the idea of using a non-locking blade. A few days of real-world use quickly turned me into a fan. LionSteel has succeeded in their quest to produce a “modern traditional”, taking the user-friendly mechanism and stamping it in cutting edge materials.

But, speaking of the edge, this is where I feel the BestMan is a little too modern. Many new-release blades tend to be thicker than necessary, trading effortless cutting for a perception of durability. This is mildly annoying, because I bought this knife specifically to fill the role of a lightweight, high-class slicer. Its premium material and quality build have exceeded expectations. Now, if only the edge was a bit finer, it’d be the Best-est Man.

Lionsteel BestMan – From $129.00
From: BladeHQ

Lion Steel Bestman BM1 Slipjoint Santos LSTBM1ST

3.88" closed.

Editor: I recommend purchasing the LionSteel BestMan at BladeHQ, GP Knives or Amazon. Thanks for reading!

Shirogorov Ne0n Review

by Aaron Shapiro 1 Comment

I spend a lot of time imagining what it must be like to create a masterpiece. Putting the final brushstroke on Monet’s Water Lilies or for John Frusciante to idly strum the opening chords to Can’t Stop for the very first time. What must be to be involved in the creation of something truly great. That must be something like how Sergey and Igor Shirogorov felt when the Ne0n was designed. It’s rare for me to be such a fan of a knife, this came together in a perfect storm of materials and lines to make something that I truly enjoy putting in my pocket. Although to spoil the ending, it does have one major flaw and that is cost. This is an expensive knife, but in my eyes, I find it well worth the ask.

Buy the Shirogorov Ne0n at BladeHQ

The Shirogorov lineup is a confusing one. They make many different models that seem almost identical to someone that isn’t familiar with their collection. The Neon is one of Shiro’s smaller pieces, the “Zero” or Ne0n has some additional features that earn it this moniker. We’ll get into the specifics here shortly, but suffice to say that I think this is one of the pocket friendliest high-end EDC knives available that isn’t made in Boise.

All Measurements are my measurements and may differ from manufacturers specifications.

Blade: 3.25”
Overall Length: 7.75”
Thickness: .53” with the clip
Blade Thickness: .13”
Steel: M390
Weight: 3oz
Lock: Titanium Framelock with Steel Lockbar Insert

Blade Details

I’ve had two different folks refer to the blade on the Neon as different shapes. It’s a coin toss between a traditional drop point or a subtle reverse tanto. I’m on team drop point, as the spine of the blade DROPS to the point but I’m not going to fight about it. The finish that Shirogorov has used is a really fine, matte stonewash on the blade. This finish is perfect, in my opinion. It catches the light nicely, doesn’t show tape stickies when you’re opening packages or breaking down boxes, and hides any machining marks from manufacturing.

In practice, this knife is a pure laser beam. It moves through paper like it’s not there. It’ll cleanly quarter up an apple to go with your turkey sammy. Cardboard holds no power against the mighty Zero. This is largely due to the thin blade stock and perfectly executed flat grind. Speaking of the grind, it’s pretty remarkable. The plunge lines on either side are perfectly executed and matched. I’m certain that Shirogorov is grinding these, at least mostly, with some sort of CNC machine, but the angle and precision are unusual (and good to see). Just like the plunge, there is a thin swedge that runs the length of the blade until you reach the negative angle near the tip. It’s a very sharp swedge that’s perfectly symmetrical the whole length of the blade.

So, steel… Shirogorov generally makes good steel decisions, in my opinion. They continued that trend with the Ne0n here when they picked M390. M390 is the same (or at least similar enough) to 20CV or CTS-204P. It’s stainless steel that is known for its good edge retention. I’m not one for cut tests or any other of exhibitive “sharpness testing,” let’s just say that I’ve pretty much carried this knife exclusively for a month or so, using it for everything I’d use a knife on, and it’s still SCARY sharp.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

Let’s go over the handle finish first. It’s a dark tumbled finish. I’m not going to pretend that I know how they achieved the finish that they did, but it appears to be a “smoother” tumbled finish than I’ve seen – it will, however, repel wear well. I want to point one element of criticism that I’ve heard: I’ve heard people comment on the coarseness of the handle finish. By this I mean you can see some of the tumble marks from the media. This isn’t a problem or even unattractive in my eyes; tumbling after all is just a collection of repetitive scratching. I just wanted to comment on it.

Ergonomically, the Ne0n is just so great. I wear a large glove and this knife sits perfectly in my hand. The handle tapers right behind the pivot then flares back out as it moves into your hand. The edges are all either radiused or chamfered, there are no sharp edges on this handle. It’s super comfy.

The Ne0n’s pocket clip is really interesting. It’s milled from titanium and built using a hidden screw construction. It works great, if you turn and look at the bit that contacts the knife scale you’ll notice that it doesn’t touch the lock bar at all. So provided that you keep your fingers on the clip when deploying you won’t run into any “failures to launch,” due to lock bar pressure.

To round this section out I wanted to touch on a couple of key features that Shirogorov incorporated into this knife. If you look inside of the handle you can see that there is a channel milled out of the backspacer to accommodate the blade. The blade is slightly longer than the handle scales themselves, so the tip and edge sit inside the backspacer. Next, I wanted to point out the milled relief near the flipper tab, this allows you to get a solid press when you’re opening the knife. I think this particular detail adds to this knife’s excellent action.

The lanyard attachment point is equally cool to see. There’s a milled relief towards the rear of the handle that opens up the area around the backspacer to allow for a paracord lanyard to pass through the loop on the backspacer itself. This shows an extra level of detail simply due to the fact that what Shirogorov could have done is allow the backspacer to extend past the scales, but instead of increasing the overall profile of the knife, Shirogorov came up with this clever solution. I can only guess that this along with some of the other elements they’ve folded into this knife increased the cost of production, but it shows the quality of their design. At least that’s my opinion.

Deployment and Lock

The lock on the Shirogorov Neon is a pretty straightforward frame lock with a steel insert. It’s nice to see a steel insert included on this knife, it should prevent any undo lock wear and extend the lifetime of that framelock.

The real special sauce on this knife, however, is the MRBS employed. MRBS stands for Multi-Row Bearing System, the name pretty much describes what this is but I also think a picture on Bladeforums is worth a thousand words. There’s a lot of debate out there as to whether the MRBS is really better than a Single-Row Bearing System (SRBS). I’m not sure how you could actually “prove” that this system is better. In my mind having more bearings would mean that there is a larger bearing surface for the blade to move on, that seems positive. Based on my experience, the knife is incredibly smooth and fires like a rocket, for these reasons MRBS gets a solid thumbs up from me.

Shirogorov Ne0n Review – Final Thoughts

To conclude I don’t think I have hidden my opinion on the Shirogorov Neon Zero at all. I love this knife. It’s well made, capable, and looks extremely cool. If there was any critical flaw it’s simply that this is an expensive knife. They weigh in at $715, this puts them into the realm of a decent custom build or other high-end production brands like Rockstead. Is it worth it? Well, that’s going to be an individual determination. I feel like it is. Between the quality of manufacture and attention to detail, I can see the money in it. As with all things, your mileage may vary.

Shirogorov F3
From: BladeHQ

Occasionally Shirogorov knives find their way to BladeHQ, and I recommend purchasing them there. They aren’t available on Amazon.

Microtech Dirac Review

by John Burridge 1 Comment

Buy the Microtech Dirac at BladeHQ

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” (Arthur C. Clarke, 1962)

Every time I use my Microtech Dirac, I feel like I’m doing a magic trick. The Dirac is an out-the-front (OTF) switchblade, and its 2 7/8” (74 mm) blade snaps out and back in so fast that my eye can’t perceive the movement of the blade springing out of the handle- there’s no blur of motion, the blade just appears where there was previously nothing. I’ve been carrying the Dirac on and off for several months and I never get tired of watching it. I’ve also come to some conclusions about it as an EDC knife.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Dirac is a light, compact, stabby little knife. The blade is just over an inch shorter than the handle, which is 4” (102 mm) long, not counting its 9/32” (7 mm) glassbreaker. May I just add that the Imperial measurement system is antiquated and absurd, and I refuse to use it any more. The rest of the review will be using Cubits, notated as “cu”, with handy conversions into Biblical Cubits (Bcu) and Ancient Egyptian Royal Cubits (AERcu). The Dirac’s blade is a pretty handy EDC length of 0.162 cu (0.128 Bcu / 0.141 AERcu) and is quite thin at 0.0054 cu (0.0043 Bcu / 0.0047 AERcu) and the knife weighs a scant 0.00193 bushels. It’s obviously a thin, light knife that you barely notice in your tunic.

My Dirac has a double edge dagger-shaped blade made of Bohler M390 steel. M390 is a “super steel” made using a process called powder metallurgy. After reading a couple of very well-written articles on KnifeSteelNerds.com (thank you!) I think I can explain why M390 is so desirable for knife blades: small carbides. Powder metallurgy steel is made by heating iron, chromium, vanadium, etc. to a liquid form and thoroughly mixing it together. How finely ground the individual ingredients are affects how thoroughly it can be mixed together, and the goal is to eliminate big chunks. Have you ever not stirred pancake batter enough and gotten a lump of grainy batter in your pancake? Powder metallurgy pancakes would never have lumps like that. M390’s tight, homogenous grain structure makes it extremely hard (for sharpened edge retention) and pretty tough (resistant to chipping). Its tiny grain structure also enables it to be sharpened to a very fine edge. To sum it up, M390 is just about as good as it gets for blade steel in 2021.

The Dirac’s blade has a black DLC (Diamond Like Carbon) coating, which I scratched cutting a cardboard box in the first week I had the knife. I have a few other non-Microtech knives with DLC coatings, and I never managed to scratch any of them. Maybe my DLC coated knives by Reate, WE, and Bestech and would have gotten scratched under the same circumstances, but I doubt it. Microtech’s DLC coatings are known to The Internet to get scratches and edge wear easily, and I can personally verify that. My Microtech Ultratech (aka my favorite knife in the world) looked just as worn-in after a few months of EDC as my Dirac does now.

The aluminum handles on both knives are scratched, the steel pocket clips have shiny edges, and the sliders (Microtech, like White Castle, calls ‘em sliders), have shiny raw metal showing where my thumb has rubbed the DLC off. I certainly don’t mind- I’m not a knife collector, I’m an enthusiast (aka knife nerd) and I think Jeeps and Microtech knives both look better with some dents and scratches. Microtech clearly agree with me that their knives still look good after some use, so they’ve done limited runs of most of their knives with a “distressed” finish. Microtech really took the distressed concept to the next level with their “Bounty Hunter” series, which are designed to look like knives that Boba Fett (a bounty hunter from the Star Wars films) would use.

I’m sure these Bounty Hunter models were popular when they were initially released in 2016, but since the premiere of the Star Wars Universe TV series “The Mandalorian” in 2019, these little suckers have become nearly impossible to come by. This one was snagged through a combination of Instagram stalking and checking several Microtech reseller websites ten times a day. The knife pictured is a UTX-85 Bounty Hunter, and it’s about the size of the Dirac, which I consider to be a good, small-ish EDC knife size. There’s also a much larger version of the Dirac, named the Dirac Delta. The Delta’s overall length of 9.4” (235 mm) makes it nearly as big as the Microtech Cypher seen dwarfing the regular Dirac in the picture below.

I personally find huge knives like the Microtech Cypher, Dirac Delta, and Combat Troodon to be unnecessarily large for anyone who doesn’t have giant sausage fingers, but what does necessary have to do with expensive switchblades? That’s my Cypher in the picture below, and I love that thing despite the fact that it makes me look like I have baby hands.

I’m always interested in the origins of names, and Microtech specializes in badass aggressive ones: The HALO, named after the US special forces High Altitude Low Opening skydiving technique, the now-discontinued Nemesis, named after the Greek mythological spirit of divine retribution, and the Troodon, named after an 11 foot tall bird-like dinosaur. I therefore naturally assumed that the Dirac and its larger variant, the Dirac Delta, were named after a bareknuckle boxer or something. I emailed Microtech customer service and was told this: “As far as the name DIRAC goes, it is actually a mathematical term. Dirac Delta is the “function”… represents an impulse.” It’s named after a math equation. WTF? I then actually did some research, and the aforementioned theory is by Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac (1902-1984) who predicted the existence of antimatter. Antimatter is definitely badass, so Dirac is still a cool Microtech name, but it’s a thinker…

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The ergonomics are what initially attracted me to the Dirac. Before I bought my Dirac I had the opportunity to handle a Benchmade Infidel at SHOT Show 2020 and in the context of fiddling with it at Benchmade’s booth, I knew I intuitively liked the ergonomics of its top-mounted slider, but couldn’t quite explain why. When I got my Dirac and started EDC-ing it, I discovered the huge advantage of a top-mounted slider vs. a standard OTF spine-mounted slider:

When pulling the Dirac out of my pocket, I pinch the knife between my thumb, which slides into my pocket, and the middle joint of my index finger, which is below the tip of the pocket clip. It’s a pretty deep grip- my thumb is on the top slider, and my index finger is just as far forward on the back side. This deep drawstroke allows me to open the blade and use the knife without adjusting my grip. I can’t think of any other style of folding knife that allows for instant use right out of the pocket. Spine-mounted sliders require a grip adjustment to get your thumb on the switch, and any non-OTF knife (even ones with the Emerson Wave opening feature) require your fingers to get out of the way when the blade swings out.

As I was figuring out the mechanics of this draw, it felt a little un-natural using a knife with my thumb on the flat side of the knife instead of the spine. I realized the awkwardness was because I had extensively used single edged knives- I hold single edge knives with my thumb on the spine in a “forehand” style when cutting left to right, or I flip my hand over into a “backhand” style when cutting right to left. With a double edged knife, there’s no need to flip my wrist over to change cutting direction- there’s blade on either side, and my thumb can just sit in the middle and drive the knife left or right with equal ease.

I used this grip style to destroy a large stack of cardboard boxes, and the only problem I had was that the “shoulder” of the pocket clip (see circle on pic below) created an uncomfortable hot spot on my hand fat.

The most comfortable grip of all was with the slider facing my palm, which further reinforces the utility of double-edged knives: it doubles the practical grip options.

The Dirac is Microtech’s first new OTF design in several years, and although it’s clearly in the Microtech in-house design style, there are some subtle improvements to the handle and slider that I noticed in my obsessive examination of the knife.

The top and bottom of the handle are convex instead of flat, which adds to the Dirac’s pleasant feel in the hand. It’s hard to see in the picture, but it’s easy to feel.

The Dirac’s jimping pattern is less sharp. On every other OTF except the Combat Troodon, the jimping pattern is two or three little narrow close-together scoops, then a little plateau, then more close-together scoops. The Dirac’s jimping pattern more spaced out. It’s a little less grippy than other Microtechs, but more comfortable when I have a tight grasp on the handle.

The slider now has angled sides instead of the classic flat sides like the Ultratech and Cypher in the picture, providing more contact surface area with fewer sharp edges, which makes it noticeably more comfortable to use.

The Dirac’s pocket clip is similar to Microtech’s normal bent steel double-dip clip, but there are small improvements here as well.

The simple genius of the double-dip clip is a higher section at the base of the clip near the glassbreaker that’s designed to loosely sit over the thick, folded seam at the top of a pants pocket, but still have good retention due to the lower, tighter section below it. Compared to the Ultratech clip (left) the Dirac can ride lower in the pocket because it doesn’t have a useless little tight section between the glassbreaker and the high section of the double dip. The clip works very well on the Dirac, which is rather light at 2.27 oz (64.4 g). My copper Ultratech, which weighs more than twice as much at 4.95 oz (140.5 g) has a similar clip, but due to it’s heavy copper top, I feel like the clip barely keeps it in place when I’m horizontal or upside-down. My Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza (another somewhat heavy knife) came with a similar double-dip style clip, and I had the same retention problem with it. I was so afraid of losing my fancy Large Sebenza that I went to the Chris Reeve Knives website and ordered a Hawk Pocket Clip (pictured below), which requires the user to pinch the little lever with the hole in it to open the tip of the clip, resulting in a very secure grip.

In case any of my hard-core knife nerd brothers are wondering, my Sebenza is technically a Chris Reeve/Wilson Combat collaboration knife called the “Star-Benza 21” with the optional Insingo blade shape. The only way this differs from a regular CRK Sebenza (besides costing $50 more) is the groovy Wilson Combat machined starburst pattern on the scales and the Wilson Combat logo on the clip, which I swapped out for the Hawk clip.

One other difference between the Dirac and most other Microtech knives is the clip doesn’t have the little lanyard hole that virtually no one uses.

I did a Google image search for “Microtech OTF” and found 19 million pictures of Microtech OTF knives, but not a single one with a lanyard attached. I then did a search for “Microtech OTF lanyard” and of the 19 billion pictures, I found 6 knives with lanyards. That’s 6 out of 19 trillion. My scientific research indicates it was a smart move by Microtech to remove a feature that was used by only 6 out of 19 gazillion people.

Deployment and Lockup

The deployment is the reason I bought this knife- it’s magically delicious. The lockup, which has wiggly blade play in two directions, is the price you pay for the awesome deployment. If this were a manual folding knife, I wouldn’t accept this much blade play in a $10 gas station folder, much less one that cost $270 like my Dirac. Unless you drop $2,500 for a G&G Hawk Deadlock OTF (made by the designers of the CRK Hawk clip on my Sebenza, by the way) your OTF is going to have lots of blade wiggle. Therefore, the only fair lockup comparison I can make is is against other OTF knives, and I don’t have any non-Microtechs to compare to the Dirac.

The other three Microtechs I have on hand also all have blade wiggle in one vertical direction (up) and one horizontal direction (right). My memories of handling a few Benchmade Infidel and Autocrat OTFs 11 months ago aren’t super sharp, other than noting that they had blade wiggle too and that the Benchmade switches were significantly easier to actuate than any Microtech I’ve handled. I personally prefer the heavier Microtech trigger weight because I don’t want any auto knife unintentionally opening in my pocket.

The Dirac, like all other Microtech OTF knives other than the HALO, are designed to basically fall off their coiled spring train tracks if the knife encounters resistance during deployment. Launching the blade into something as soft as a piece of thick paper is enough to stop the blade from fully extending, and the blade has to be manually pulled out to get back to its normal functioning state. The HALO has no such safety feature, and is meant to be carried in a sheath. It deliberately doesn’t have a pocket clip to try to discourage people like my friend Shaun from pocket carrying it. Shaun’s HALO opened in his pocket and luckily it just ripped a hole in his pants instead of in his femoral artery.

I don’t have a way to measure the pounds-per-inch of force to move the slider on my Dirac, but it’s heavy enough to require deliberate effort to deploy or retract, and it’s not so stiff that I can’t easily manipulate it. My Cypher’s spring is so strong (perhaps because it’s a significantly longer and thicker blade) that I can barely close it with one hand, and it leaves a dent in my thumb. Microtech seems to have a lot of variation in their slider tension and whether the slider rattles.

My Dirac’s slider doesn’t make a sound, my Ultratech’s slider rattles when the blade is out but not when it’s in, and the UTX-85’s slider rattles all the time. I know that the coiled spring that powers the action is at rest in both the open and closed positions, but why the slider would be loose on some individual knives is beyond my understanding. I do know that it doesn’t seem to affect mechanical performance.

Regarding mechanical performance, The Dirac is my least expensive, still-in-production (AKA replaceable) OTF knife, so I really worked this knife hard, using it for tasks I wouldn’t ordinarily touch with any of my other OTF knives. While cutting cardboard and plastic, I put so much pressure on the blade edges that several times I thought the blade might snap out of the handle. It held up perfectly and the deployment is unchanged after months of use.

Microtech Dirac Review – Final Thoughts

I’ve had a few side-opening switchblades over the years (in fact I just got the Kershaw Launch 13 side-opening switchblade for an upcoming review) and I used to think their level of convenience and ease of use was unmatched. But after carrying and really using the Dirac, I found the form factor of this small OTF knife to be ideal in almost every way. I absolutely love the one-handed ease of use of an OTF knife- the instant it clears the top of my pocket it’s ready for use, and it’s just as easy to put away. The Dirac’s size and shape are well-suited to most tasks I encounter in my life, the M390 blade steel keeps a sharp edge for a very long time, and I consider the handle length of four inches (0.22 Biblical Cubits) to be the minimum usable length for my medium-large hands. By the way, the Microtech UTX-85, which is comparable in size to the Dirac, is generally thought of as an 85% size version of the Ultratech (thus the 85 in its name) but that 85% number only refers to blade length, since the UTX-85 is dimensionally nearly identical to the Ultratech in everything except length. The Microtech UTX-70, however, is actually smaller in all dimensions than an Ultratech. Fun fact? It’s fun for me at least.

I’ve only found three real downsides to carrying the Dirac:

There’s no quiet way to open the knife, other than fake coughing to cover the sound of the addictive in-out-in-out-in-out (until your significant other tells you to stop it with the fuckin’ clicking!)
If the blade has food or tape residue on it, I try to not retract the blade until I clean it because there are parts inside the handle that don’t like sticky goo.
OTF knives seem to be extra scary to non-knife people, at least in my beloved Los Angeles. The other day I was picking up a big bag of vegan fast food at Veggie Grill, where they tape up the takeout bags (to keep the COVID out I guess) and out came the Dirac to cut the tape and check my order. I am not a person who derives pleasure from other peoples pain, but I must say that the looks of shock I saw on the faces of the two employees behind the counter was… satisfying. Sorry not sorry.

Oh yeah, and switchblades are illegal in a bunch of places, so that’s another thing to keep in mind. What I primarily keep in mind however, is that I never, ever, ever, get tired of doing the Dirac’s magic trick.

Thank you to Sara O’Neil for the use of her painting.

Microtech Dirac – From $280.00
From: BladeHQ

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Microtech Exocet at BladeHQ. Thank you for reading.

Bestech Marukka Review

by John Burridge Leave a Comment

Kombou is on fire lately! In the last few years, Bestech Knives has released 8 knives that he’s designed, including the Marukka reviewed here. I bought the Marukka the day it was released, and as I write this review 60 days later, two more Bestech/Kombou knives are starting to hit stores: the Wibra and the Irida.

Buy the Bestech Marukka at BladeHQ
Buy on Amazon

Kombou is the nom de couteau of Grzegorz Grabarski of Siedlce, Poland. I’m the kind of guy that notices and appreciates the evolution of an artist’s work, and I’ve been keeping an eye on Kombou for a couple of years now. I reviewed his Bestech Knives Fanga knife (see pic below) here on Blade Reviews in August 2019, and I found it be be a great knife and a good value for the money.

I’ve been stalking the Marukka on Instagram since I first saw it teased by Kombou in June of 2019. When it was finally released in April 2020, it easily passed all my stringent knife buying requirements:

Is it made of quality materials? Yes, titanium and M390 steel.
Is it reasonably priced for what it is? Yes, $272.
Is it like a big bio-mechanical stabbing machine? Yes!

I’ve been carrying the Bestech Marukka for the last 60 days. Here’s what I’ve discovered:

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The handle is 5” (127 mm), and when opened, the blade adds another 3.75” (95 mm) for an impressive overall length of 8.75” (203 mm). It’s tough to tell from the pictures, but this is a pretty big knife.

The blade steel is Bohler M390, which is an excellent powder metallurgy “super steel” with above average toughness (basically the ability to bend instead of breaking) and extremely high hardness (basically the ability to hold an edge.) M390’s bias of hardness over toughness is great for people like me who don’t sharpen their knives regularly. M390 steel or its contemporaries (like Crucible 20CV, Carpenter 204P, or Uddeholm Elmax) are generally expected in a premium production knife like the Marukka, and I’ve yet to be disappointed with the edge-holding performance any of those steels.

The blade has a substantial spine, starting out at 3.85 mm thick, but tapering to a quite thin .45 mm near the blade’s tip. The design of the Marukka’s blade appears to be simple, but there are a lot of subtle details I really like. It’s a Persian style blade, and the spine has a slight downward recurve before rising to the tip.

There’s a decorative fuller that looks straight but actually shares the slight recurve of the spine. The ricasso (the unsharpened portion of the blade between the handle and the primary sharpening bevel) is stonewashed, but the rest of the blade has a shinier satin finish, which is a cool touch in my opinion. It’s also quite difficult to show in a photograph, since it’s mainly just a difference in reflectivity.

The titanium pocket clip, pivot collar, and backspacer are anodized a brass-y/champagne-y color, and they were also hard for me to due justice to in pictures because the color is pretty subtle. There are currently two other color variants of the Marukka available, both with black stonewashed blades, but they don’t have the dual-finish blade treatment.

I’m kookoo for stabby-looking knives, but I’m also well aware of their limited usefulness in my life. My favorite knife of all time is my Microtech Ultratech signature version with a copper handle.

I don’t know what specific use the Ultratech was originally designed for, but I’m guessing it was murder. Mine even happens to be serial number 187, which is police code for… murder! I mainly use mine to murder boxes and loose threads on my clothes. The Ultatech’s blade is so thin and pointy that I can’t use it to scrape or pry anything for fear of snapping off the tip. I’m sure If I ever tried to clean under my fingernails with it, I’d be typing this with only nine fingers. Furthermore, its copper handle is so heavy that grabbing the tip of the blade between thumb and fingers to do detail work is like trying to tap in a nail with the handle of a hammer- the heavy head is at the far end, throwing off your balance. So I obviously don’t care about logic (or California switchblade knife laws), and love my impractical, stabby Ultratech.

The Marukka is far more practical and well-balanced. Its thin blade slices fruit and vegetables really well for a folding knife, and the combination of the blade’s low belly and the handle’s high arch let me dice onions without rapping my knuckles on the cutting board with every chop. It’s no kitchen knife, but it’ll do nicely in a pinch. Speaking of alternate knife uses, I always open my mail with the unsharpened spine of whatever knife is in my pocket- unless it’s the Marukka. The tip of this thing is so thin and sharp that I just know I’m going to end up slicing open my hand along with my electric bill. For me it’s usually “Oh shit, did I cut myself? There’s no blood- oh there it comes, so much blood!!!”

Placing my irrational fear aside for a moment, I think if I were to use this knife as hard as I’ve used my DPX Gear HEST/F or my Chris Reeve Knives Sebenza, then I would be a little worried about snapping off the Marukka’s tip.

The HEST/F knife (above, left) has a tip that’s protected against snapping off due to its absurdly thick blade stock, and the Sebenza’s tip is thin but is protected by geometry. My Sebenza (above, right) has the Insingo blade option, which is a sheepsfoot style blade. One of the reasons I like sheepsfoot blades is that their spines abruptly plummet down to the tip, resulting in a little more thick steel near the tip compared to the Marukka’s Persian style blade.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

To test my weak tip assumption, I attacked a huge stack of industrial-sized extra thick cardboard boxes held together with large copper staples. After ten minutes of hacking them into recycling bin size (and running the blade right over the staples) I can say that the handle is comfortable and I didn’t worry once about breaking the Marukka’s tip. The balance point of this surprisingly light knife (4.02 oz / 114.4 g) is just behind the index finger groove in the handle, and it was easy to manipulate with and without gloves. The milled pocket clip added to my grip retention.

I’ve found that pocket clips often create hot spots and interfere with either a standard or overhanded grip. In fact, the DPX HEST/F (the green handled knife from a couple of pictures ago) has perhaps my least ergonomically-friendly clip of anything I own. But the Marukka’s clip is rounded and contoured, and pushed my ring and pinky fingers into an ideal grip when flipping it open. It’s obvious to me that Kombou didn’t just put the clip on as an afterthought, but thoroughly integrated it into the design.

In my months of everyday carry, the Marukka never accidentally slipped out of my pocket, but it would ride up to the tip of the clip if I’d been lying down with it clipped to my pocket. That also happens with almost every other single knife I own except my precious Microtech Ultratech, which has a “double dip” clip that keeps it snug in the bottom of my pocket.

The handle of the Marukka has 4” (102 mm) of usable gripping space, which allows me a full four finger grip with room to spare. Visually, it’s a mixture of organic curves and machine-like lines and angles. It’s like a dagger made from the Terminator’s wrist bone. The word that leaps out at me is bio-mechanical, probably because I just finished reading all five books in the “Murderbot Diaries” series of science fiction novels by Martha Wells. The main character (who calls itself Murderbot) is a human/robot hybrid, and I imagine Murderbot would appreciate the Marukka’s design aesthetic, even though it wouldn’t admit that to a human. The books are super fun, have great action interspersed with dry humor, and have won just about every sci-fi award available, including the Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus Awards. Sorry- I know this is a knife review, not a book review, so back to the knife.

There are several mechanical-style details on the Marukka’s handle. The pivot screw, for example, has the look of a spinning turbine, and the machined line that travels from the pivot screw to the end of the handle looks to me like either a gear or a circuit board. The cut on the lock side that forms the framelock follows that crenelated line to some extent. That’s pretty unique, since the framelock cut is more or less a straight line on about 90% of framelock knives ever since Chris Reeve invented the framelock in the late 1980’s.

The “bio” part of the bio-mechanical theme is most evident in the shape and angles of the handle, particularly on the top of the spine.

There’s a little flat-ish area where the handle meets the blade, which is obviously designed as a comfortable thumb shelf when holding the knife in a regular grip. Behind that is another swoopy indentation, which, along with the thin milled stripes behind it, is purely decorative as far as I can tell. In matters of design, I’m a huge fan of unexpected lines and angles, and Kombou could have just kept the spine going in one long curving line like he did in the Bestech Fanga (2nd picture from the top of the article) but instead he gave us an organic, multi-angled flourish. It’s clear to me that his design style is evolving, and I enjoy noticing the steps he takes along the way.

Deployment and Lockup

The Marukka is a flipper-opening framelock, and the action is light and snappy. The blade pivots on ceramic ball bearings, and the titanium framelock has a steel insert where it meets the blade.

This theoretically replaceable insert prevents titanium on steel friction, which can sometimes result in the knife getting stuck open. This used to happen with my previously mentioned DPX Gear HEST/F, which did not have a steel lockbar insert. I realize that I’ve used it as a bad example twice now, but the HEST/F was quite technologically advanced in 2012 when I bought it- which goes to show how rapidly the knife world has advanced in the last decade.

The detent of a flipper knife controls how much force must be applied to the flipper tab to snap the blade out of its closed position. A weak detent may result in the blade not fully opening, and a detent that’s too strong just kinda sucks. The Marukka’s detent is perfect, as is the detent on the two other Bestech Knives I own. The lockup is solid and there’s no blade play either opened or closed. Actually, I can’t even think of a single modern framelock knife I’ve handled that has any blade play… well, except for my HEST/F (oh no- not again! Sorry DPX Gear!) but its blade wiggle is the direct result of it being my favorite beater knife for almost a decade.

Bestech Marukka Review – Final Thoughts

I pay a lot of attention to details, and I had to dig deep into the details to find anything negative to say about the Marukka. This is all I could come up with: the steel lockbar insert is pretty sharp, and can scratch my thumb if I hold it too far forward when closing the blade. That’s it- I have no other complaints. It’s not cheap, but neither is the the unique and precise machining that went into this big, futuristic-looking, bio-mechanical stabbing machine. Like Martha Wells’ Murderbot, the Marukka is fascinating and dangerous, but smooth around the edges. I recommend it.

Thank you to Sara O’Neil for the use of her painting.

Bestech Marukka – From $272.00
From: BladeHQ

Marukka Framelock Gray BTKT2002A

Editor: I recommend purchasing the Bestech Marukka at BladeHQ and Amazon. Thank you very much.

Microtech Exocet Review

by Dan Jackson 4 Comments

In these uncertain times, it feels like an indulgence to sit down and write a knife review. I ask, should I even be doing this? To go about reviewing expensive pocket trinkets while the world unravels like a ball of yarn? The website has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure, but I’ve yet to actually feel guilty working on it.

The only comfort I can offer is that after every setback I have suffered, I’ve found the best medicine is to get up and get back to work. Well maybe in this case we should stay at home and get back to work, but regardless, keeping a routine and moving forward is the only option I know. The current situation a disaster in every sense of the word, but things will eventually get better. In the meantime, I hope you and your family are holding up OK.

And that is where the Microtech Exocet comes in. Today’s guilty pleasure. This knife is the epitome of a pocket bauble. Something I had no immediate need for, but I had to have the moment I saw it. God forbid my spare hundos gather some dust, or lack an expensive pocket knife to be clipped to. Not sure which is worse.

Regular readers know I’ve been on a Microtech bender lately. You could consider these the mid life crisis pieces of my knife collection. Hey, they are cheaper than a Corvette. But the reason I keep coming back is that Microtech makes an exceptional product. And the value proposition is actually pretty good when you consider what you are getting.

The Exocet is a new release. Maybe not hot off the press, but released sometime in late 2019. The name sounds cool, and apparently it’s French for “Flying Fish” and a French guided anti-ship missile. I kept admiring the knife on BladeHQ. I’ve made plenty of impulse purchases, but when you keep coming back to something weeks later, then you know it’s time to buy it. In that sense the Exocet was a carefully considered acquisition.

General Dimensions and Blade Details

The Excocet has an overall length of 5.625″, a 1.98″ blade, weighs 2.75 and is made in the USA. This is a California legal dual action out the front automatic pocket knife. Microtech advertises it as a money clip knife, and its has a prominent pocket clip where you can stuff some cards and cash. Here’s a picture of the Exocet in it’s native habitat:

I’ve been using mine as an EDC knife, albeit carefully. Check your local laws before buying this knife or carrying it in public. While it’s a “Cali legal” auto it may not be entirely kosher in your jurisdiction.

The Exocet features a broad, dual edge, dagger ground blade. This is a notoriously blade pattern to grind, as it’s actually 4 grinds, and the goal is to have them perfectly symmetrical and to line up. My knife is ground well, but if I study it I can see that it’s not perfect. Like I mentioned, this is a difficult grind to master, and Microtech is mass producing them. All things considered I think they did a great job on a $250 knife. As usual, they offer this blade in a variety of finishes. I went for the stonewashed with satin flats. I prefer the contrast of an uncoated blade, and the way an uncoated blade holds up to wear.

I think it’s also worth mentioning how exceptionally sharp this blade was out of the box. The edge will pop hair off your arm with the lightest bit of pressure. This is the kind of blade that is so sharp, you won’t even notice you have been cut by it. I’ve handled my share of knives over the years. It’s rare to impress me with out of the box sharpness, but I’m impressed.

Here’s another size comparison with the Endura and Delica:

Blade steel on this model is M390. At the risk of oversimplifying things, M390 is great stuff. A high end stainless made by Bohler Uddeholm, M390 is known for it’s fine grain structure and excellent edge retention while remaining relatively easy to sharpen and highly stain resistant. It’s one of my favorite steels. It’s a great choice on most folders, and was certainly an appropriate selection here.

In practice, the Exocet took care of all of the basic EDC tasks I put it up to. I’ll admit it has mostly been “dry” tasks like opening mail and packages. I didn’t cut an overripe pear or field dress a possum, but I’ve opened plenty of bags and packages.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

The handle is constructed of black anodized aluminum. The anodization looks great, but it will show wear with use. One commentor lamented that I didn’t disclose that in my Benchmade 940 review. Anodized aluminum shows signs of wear if it brushes up against hard objects. Keep that in mind if you like your knives to look new.

As usual for Microtech, the handle has been meticulously machined. Also typical is the use of Microtech’s proprietary hardware. Normally I service all my knives, but this is one I have no desire to take apart. If you wanted to do that you would have to purchase a special tool and possibly risk voiding your warranty. That’s a potential downside for sure if you were to religiously carry and use this knife. I know you can spray it out with compressed air or WD-40, but eventually it would need to go back to Microtech.

That said, the handle is immaculate. An interesting detail is the chunky triangular impact tool bolted to the pommel. It looks cool, is potentially useful, secures the pocket clip, and successfully integrates a lanyard hole.

You don’t buy a knife like this for stellar ergonomics. It’s basically like holding a stack of credit cards. Not the most comfortable handle for sure. However, it doesn’t feel terrible for light duty. There is plenty of traction thanks to a gratuitous amount of milling. The hard anodization offers a little grip as well, while your thumb rests naturally on the slider. That said, this design is not going to win any ergonomics awards. I can get 4 fingers onto the handle, but it most naturally works with a 3 finger grip.

The pocket clip is also a little unusual. Like the blade, it’s broad and flat. It’s designed to serve double duty as both a pocket clip and money clip. It doesn’t do either of those things particularly well. It holds cash and cards fine, but compared with a normal money clip it’s bulky. And as far as pocket clips go, well, it’s enormous. It works fine, but it’s not terribly discreet.

In pocket the Exocet carries pretty well. It’s reasonably thin and light, but it is also wide. I haven’t had any issues carrying it, but it isn’t exactly a Dragonfly II in the pocket either.

Here is your in the pocket shot:

Deployment and Lockup

If you already own an Ultratech, or a Troodon, or any other dual action out the front automatic by Microtech, then you will know what you are getting into with the automatic mechanism. The slider is stepped and easy to get to. The slider is also easy to use. It strikes an excellent balance between requiring a conscious amount of force, so it doesn’t open up accidentally, but it doesn’t require so much force that it wears out your thumb. I think they struck the perfect balancen.

The action is snappy and fun. As usual the blade shoots out with a satisfying “clack” and withdraws with a similar amount of panache. This is Microtech’s bread and butter, and their dual action system translates perfectly to the smaller Exocet.

Once deployed the blade has a little wobble as you would expect. Both up and down and side to side. Nothing abnormal or crazy, just what you would expect from a knife like this. Eventually I’d like to acquire a G&G Hawk Deadlock, just to see what that’s all about. In the meantime I’m cool with a little blade play. This Exocet still gets the job done.

Here’s a parting size comparison with my Troodon:

Microtech Exocet Review – Final Thoughts

This is something that will either immediately speak to you, or be a total turn off. For me, I had to have it. In practice the Exocet has been a lot of fun. That is what this knife is all about: fun. The novelty of a Cali Legal OTF that doubles as a money clip. It’s a pleasurable way to part with $250. I actually think there is a good amount of value here. All the parts are made in house in the USA. The fit and finish is beautiful. The action is a lot of fun. Sure it’s a luxury good, but you get something for your money.

That said, I’d be remiss to not point out that compromises abound with a knife like this. You may want to think twice if this is going to be your day in / day out, ride or die knife. It’s more of a secondary blade or a light user. I have a buddy who daily carried an Ultratech. He’s an electrician, so his knife saw some action. It got beat up quickly. I’m not saying a knife like this couldn’t be carried and used zealously every day, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it. That said, who am I to suggest what you do. Buy a Microtech and use the piss out of it. Enjoy it in good health. From what I’ve seen they are reliable knives. Just don’t be upset if it picks up some battle scars in short order.

If you are a Microtech fan then I think you will like the Exocet. I like mine and plan on keeping it. As always, be careful if you decide to carry it. Check your local laws before purchasing or carrying this knife.

Microtech Exocet – From $250.00
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the Microtech Exocet at BladeHQ. Thank you for reading.

Microtech UTX-85 Review

by Aaron Shapiro Leave a Comment

Buy the UTX-85 at BladeHQ

Knives function differently in a collector’s life than a normal person’s. They serve as a connection between people, a stress reliever, a sense of importance, a focus of learning, and yes, even sometimes a tool. Microtech, I think, is an excellent example of something that can occupy all of these roles. There’s nothing more satisfying than (safely) using an OTF as a fidget tool. There’s nothing more connecting (or dividing) than a room full of Microtech fanboys. The knives offer a depth and breadth of legitimate cutlery history for one to dive into. They are also very capable tools when used properly, we’ll get more into that later.

The Microtech UTX-85 is a smaller version of the long praised Ultratech. I believe the name comes from it being 85% of an Ultratech. As someone that always found the Ultratech to be slightly too large for my uses, I knew I needed to try it out.

Before we get too deep here, let’s go over some specs:

(All Measurements are my personal measurements and may differ from manufacturers specs)

Blade: 3”
OAL: 7.5”
Thickness: .696” with the clip
Blade Thickness: .126”
Steel: M390
Weight: 3.1oz
Lock: Out-the-front Automatic

Blade

The UTX-85 that I opted for has the traditional drop point blade shape. I’ve seen versions with tanto blades, double-edged daggers, serrations, and probably some I’m missing. I like the way the tanto looks, but for daily carry, I have found the drop point to be the most useful. It’s ground to a nice fine tip that should allow for detailed work, whereas the cutting edge is long enough to allow for effective draw cuts.

When it comes to practicality, this will be a lighter duty knife. So I’m more interested in sharpness and edge retention (I wound up putting my own edge on it) than I am robust/thickness of the blade. You won’t be prying, chopping, carving, etc. with this particular knife. It’s just not meant for that.

We’ve covered M390 in the past, but for those just joining us. I love this stuff. It’s not that dissimilar from 20CV or CTS-204P. After running mine through my Wicked Edge, I can attest that, while the initial bevel was tough to set, it took an excellent edge and has maintained it for a long time. It’s also famous for its stain and rust resistance. This is a superior all-around steel.

Handle, Ergonomics, and Pocket Clip

Microtech both nails and flubs on ergonomics, in my opinion. On the one hand, everything feels extremely functional but, the texturing and surface finish of the handle itself could be done better. I find the ridges milled into the top and bottom of the handle in place of gimping to be overly sharp. They do a good job of locking the knife in your hand but can be uncomfortable after extended use.

The anodized aluminum handles look great when the knife first arrives, however any bump or ding in the surface will leave behind a starkly contrasting scuff or scratch. This may or may not bother you, depending on your mindset regarding pocketknives. But I think it’s safe to assume that folks spending ~$250 on a tool like this enjoy it looking nice as much as they do it being capable.

In the same vein, Microtech uses a large bent steel clip on their OTFs. These function great (in my experience) and really remind me of the Chris Reeve clip with their dual detent style retention. The unfortunate thing about these clips, however, are that they are MASSIVE. The clip measures 0.4” wide and just over 2.5” long. The flare on the end also sticks up a decent amount as well and looks like it just wants to scratch your car.

Deployment and Lock

Microtech OTF’s are peculiar. Really, all OTF’s are unusual if you’re coming from a strictly “locking-knife,” background. They don’t have something that you disengage to close it. Instead, you “activate” the closing mechanism. From what I understand, the springs in Microtech OTF’s are not under tension apart from when you retract or extend the blade. The rest of the time, the spring is in a resting state. So, you’re essentially cocking and firing the blade in both directions during regular use. That’s cool. It’s hugely satisfying to play with, although it will drive your partner, roommate, pet, or anyone else in your immediate orbit insane after a short time.

Microtech has also come a long way with how this mechanism feels. I’ve owned several knives that used this OTF assembly, and the earlier ones were EXTREMELY difficult to actuate. The amount of force it took to withdraw and extend the blade would quickly make your wrist and hand sore. This is no longer the case; however, the UTX-85 has a much easier mechanism to operate.

It’s also worth pointing if you’re not familiar with Microtech’s double-action autos that these knives will disconnect if they encounter resistance while deploying. Then you have to pull the blade all the way to get it back on track again. These won’t deploy, “into,” something like a single action could (potentially).

Microtech UTX-85 Review – Final Thoughts

In the end, I think that the UTX-85 is an excellent choice for someone wanting to get into Microtech autos. They’re reasonably affordable, by comparison, and they’re made very well. I also personally prefer the size over the classic Ultratech. The Ultratech clocks in with a 3.4” blade vs. the 85’s 3”. It’s just a little more pocket-friendly for me and slightly less scary to civilians.

I think one competitive option that would be worth checking out with be one of the new OTF’s from Benchmade, the Phaeton. These are 3.45” OTF’s that also feature aluminum handles, S30V blades, and a reversible pocket clip. I’ve had the opportunity to handle both, and I think the action on the Benchmade’s is a little superior. The price, however, is also higher at around $323 on BladeHQ.

In the world of production automatics Microtech really has made a name for themselves. I’ve had the opportunity to own several of their models, and I can say that the UTX-85 feels the most EDC-practical to me. The blade size is right for daily tasks, but it also doesn’t make me feel like an assassin every time I pull it out to use. That may be what you’re going for, but I’m more a practical over tactical type gear-nerd. One of the beautiful things about how Microtech produces their knives is that they offer a ton of variety. Their models are generally available in a spectrum of blade shapes as well as blade steels.

The Microtech UTX-85 can be found from our favorite online knife retailer BladeHQ. At the time of this writing, they’re sitting around $250 give or take configuration. For more information check out microtechknives.com or bladehq.com

Microtech UTX-85 – From $247.00
From: BladeHQ

I recommend purchasing the Microtech UTX-85 at BladeHQ or Amazon. Thank you for reading.